3.3.2. The beginning of time (MIL3.3.2)

The king said: ‘You say that the ultimate point of time is not apparent. Give me an illustration of that.’

‘Suppose, O king, a man were to plant in the ground a tiny seed, and that it were to come up as a shoot, and in due course grow, develope, and mature until it produced a fruit. And then the man, taking a seed from that fruit, were again to plant it in the ground, and all should happen as before. Now would there be any end to this series?’

Certainly not, Sir.’ ‘Just so, O king, the ultimate point in the past of the whole of this time is not apparent.’

‘Give me a further illustration.’

‘The hen lays an egg. From the egg comes a hen. From the hen an egg. Is there any end to this series?’

‘No.’

‘Just so, O king, the ultimate point in the past of the whole of this time is not apparent.’

‘Give me a further illustration.’

Then the Elder drew a circle on the ground and asked the king: ‘Is there any end to this circle?’

‘No, it has no end.’

‘Well, that is like those circles spoken of by the Blessed One. “By reason of the eye and of forms there arises sight, when these three come together there is touch, by reason of touch sensation, by reason of sensation and longing (Taṇhā, thirst), by reason of the longing action (Karma), and from action eye is once more produced.” Now is there any end to this series?

‘No.’

Then setting out a precisely corresponding circle of each of the other organs of sense (of the ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind), he in each case put the same question. And the reply being always the same, he concluded:

‘Just so, O king, the ultimate point of time in the past is not apparent.’

‘You are ready, Nāgasena, in reply.’

The Questions of King Milinda, translated from the Pali by T.W. Rhys Davids.

Part 1 (to section 5.4.10) was originally published as Volume xxxv of “The Sacred Books of the East”, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1890.

Part 2 (from section 5.5.1) was originally published as Volume xxxvi of “The Sacred Books of the East”, Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1894.

This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Bhikkhu Sujato based on the digital text of the Internet Sacred Text Archive. The work of the Sacred Text Archive to make this text publically available is gratefully acknowledged.

In preparing this edition minor editorial changes have been made. The structure has been adapted to agree with the Mahāsaṅgīti Pali text as found on SuttaCentral. In addition, the corrections proposed by the translator in the “Addenda et Corrigenda” of the original editions have for the most part been adopted.

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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.